


Tea Leaves - Steeped

by SophSaige



Series: Tea Leaves [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Idiots in Love, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, Post-Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Post-Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal, Tea as a MacGuffin, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, rating for future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:02:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27661750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophSaige/pseuds/SophSaige
Summary: Shadowbringers and Patch 5.3 Spoilers ahead!***"...You’ll be disappointed to find that the most sinister thing I’ve done so far is snatch that tea you had your eye on. Which, mind you, is MY tea, seeing as I introduced it to you in the first place. You would do well to mind yourself and leave me be, HERO.”
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch & Warrior of Light, Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Original Character(s), Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light
Series: Tea Leaves [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922944
Comments: 13
Kudos: 45





	1. Waking

**Author's Note:**

> A continuation of the Tea Leaves AU/ series with Vin. Reading the other works is encouraged, but not required!
> 
> Rated for future content - each chapter will have the appropriate content warnings in the beginning notes as needed and will be added to tags once posted! C:
> 
> I'm having a lot of fun writing this - I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Recommended Listening: ["Ghost on the Shore" - Lord Huron](https://youtu.be/1QthMaFm6-g) (Youtube Link)

_ He never did come back for that second cup of tea, did he? _

Vin was swimming in her own thoughts as she fished around the cupboard for a box of tea, or even a loose tea bag. It had been moons since she and the Scions returned to The Source, moons since learning of Amaurot and the fate of its people, moons since she killed-

Vin stopped herself from going down that particular road, it was too much. Despite knowing that she and the Scions had done what was needed to prevent the calamity, that she had done right by Ardbert, Vin couldn't escape the pangs of guilt in her chest. Taking some time to herself for what would hopefully be a bit of reprieve and a chance to clear her mind had only proven to give more time for idle thoughts that would eventually find their way back to the sea of stars she had sat under - with him. She could swear the constellations looked back at her now, accusatory and defeated.

"Damn." Vin pulled yet another empty box of tea from the shelf. She really was terrible at keeping things tidy, wasn't she? A cursory glance around her cottage was proof enough of that. Dusty bookshelves, an unkempt fireplace, stark walls - the telltale signs of an adventurer who was more comfortable calling everywhere else their home. The pantry was embarrassingly empty, she ought to remedy that.

Gridania was a short distance from her home in the Lavender Beds, or at least short in comparison to the treks she was accustomed to traveling. A walk would do her reeling mind some good, besides. Vin set out from her cottage and reveled in the mild Spring weather. The warmth of the sunshine enveloped her skin as she boarded the ferry to take her across the river. Vin smiled, her freckles were beginning to creep out of their subdued winter state with the sun, wildly spattered across her face and arms. 

Vin had always favored the warmer seasons - frigid winds and bitter snows soured her mood and too often put a damper on any plans she cared to make. If she never set foot near Coerthas or Ishgard again, it would be too soon. But Gridania? The sweet smell of blossoms had beckoned her the moment she planted a foot in its grass. It was no wonder she chose to rent a small home in its housing district. Wishful thinking on her part mostly, considering that she hadn't regularly lived in an actual house since she became a Scion of the Seventh Dawn. Luckily, she found a small mercy in a landlord who was wont to waive rent for the realm's hero, so long as she saw to an errand here and there.

The short ferry ride and walk to the forested city-state was a welcome change to the routine Vin had settled into. From the moment she arrived home she found herself sleeping most of the sunlight hours away. Nights left her tense and hollow, and the empty spaces in her home were loud and encroaching. Pangs of hunger had been ignored, if they existed at all - it was no wonder the small amount of food she brought with her for the journey home had ended up lasting just over a sennight after her arrival. Vin told herself her body was still recovering from near nonstop battering in The First, but a small voice in the corner of her mind reminded her that she deserved anything but rest. True calm was reserved for the righteous.

The market of Gridania was a steady hum of merchants and patrons alike. Sounds of haggling and children running underfoot carried through the air with scents of leather and freshly picked fruit. Vin was glad to blend in with the crowd - when her journey began she had been joyful at her newfound notoriety, but now it was tiresome. The small basket she brought with her was quickly filled with various fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats, and other necessities. Last on her list was what inspired her outing in the first place - tea.

She perused over the various boxes at the tea vendor, opening some to smell the tea itself. None had caught her eye in particular, until her gaze fell on an intricately carved wooden box. Her heart jumped - it was an almost exact copy of the tea box Emet-Selch had left her in The First. Picturesque mountains, flowers, and vines decorated the sides and beckoned her to them. She reached out to touch it, to confirm it wasn't a dream, but instead of the box she grazed the hand of another patron who had also begun to reach for it. Vin quietly laughed and turned to them. "Oh! I'm so sor- SEVEN HELLS!"

Vin reeled back, crashing into the tea display and sending its contents flying to the ground. She overcorrected in an attempt to right herself and ended up tripping over her own feet, falling to the floor. She was shaking, eyes wide, half frightened and half amazed.

Looking down at her with a familiar disdainful boredom was the ghost that had been haunting the spaces between her exhales. Vin's voice caught in her throat and her words choked out of her mouth.

"E-Emet-Selch?"


	2. Rubbing the Sleep from Your Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No content warnings for this chapter~ This was a ton of fun to write, enjoy!

To say that Vin had caused a scene was a gross understatement. Nearly the entirety of the market had turned to see the commotion she had caused when she sent a fully stocked shelf of tea careening to the ground, and herself with it.

"Is everything alright?" The tea vendor asked, though not to her. He was asking  _ him _ .

So he  _ was _ real, then.

"Just fine, thank you, though it seems you're not safe from clumsy clientele today." He was crouched, helping gather the tea boxes strewn about the floor. Vin was frozen in place, unable to stop staring at him. Emet-Selch looked just as she remembered him, save for the striking white hair that now graced his head. It was no wonder his presence hadn't registered to her, in place of the ornate Garlean ensemble was a simple blue tunic and brown trousers, accented by a black jacket with fur trim. He fit right in with everyone else in the market. He glanced at her, displeased. Gods, those eyes shot right through her.

By the time Vin had enough sense to finally stand up and gather the contents of her basket, the tea display had been settled and the market was back to its regular bustling. And Emet-Selch had already paid for his tea and was swiftly on his way out. 

_ To hells with the tea _ .

Vin ran. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd to catch up to him, but the congested thoroughfare only proved to slow her down. She saw the patch of white hair exit the market and venture into Gridania - good, she could catch him alone. Vin was sprinting now, trying to keep up with his quick, long strides. Was he trying to avoid her?

"Hey! HEY!!" She was nearly to him now, yelling and waving her arm like a woman gone mad, and still he ignored her. She quickened her pace and jumped in front of him, out of breath and blocking his path.

"Wonderful." Emet-Selch's voice dripped with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes, arms crossed in front of his chest and deliberately avoiding eye contact. "First you  _ kill _ me, and now you've come to deprive me of my tea."

"You're alive!" Vin's voice cracked, still trying to catch her breath.

"Unfortunately, yes." He pushed past her. The bumping of his shoulder into her small frame was intentional - the path was nearly empty and it jostled Vin enough to make her stumble.

"Hey, wait!!" Vin floundered after him. "You're ALIVE!! Hade-"

He abruptly stopped and snapped around to face her, pointing a black fingernail into her chest. " _ You _ don't get to call me that.

Vin withered into herself. "Right… Sorry. For calling you the wrong thing, I mean. Gods, I mean, not that I'm not sorry for-"

Emet-Selch quickly took his finger and pressed it to Vin's lips, effectively shutting her up. "Please, do yourself a favor and stop talking." Vin curled her lips inward as he removed the appendage from her bubble. Her face felt hot.

He continued, crossing his arms over his chest as if they would shield him. "Yes, I'm alive. Yes, I'm here in Gridania, and  _ apparently _ you are as well, which seems to be just my luck... But you'll be disappointed to find that the most sinister thing I've done so far is snatch that tea you had your eye on. Which, mind you, is  _ my _ tea, seeing as I introduced it to you in the first place. You would do well to mind yourself and leave me be,  _ hero _ ."

Gods, she hated how he called her that. She used to think the nickname endearing, but now it stung like nails drawn over scraped skin. Vin furrowed her brow and straightened her shoulders, trying in vain to cast an imposing figure. "Fine then. Take care,  _ Ascian _ ." Vin attempted to push past him in the same fashion he had done her, but the sheer height difference between them only gave his arm a pathetic jostle as she pushed past him. 

Vin pressed forward, ignoring the sardonic chuckle that she had elicited in him. He was absolutely insufferable, the way he carried himself as if she were a child. She almost had the mind to remind him that she killed him once, and she'd gladly do it again, but Vin thought it better to save that ammunition for next time - because of course there would be a next time. Emet-Selch would make sure of that, surely. 

She was taking quick steps, propelled forward on the path home by her own frustration. He was  _ following _ her now, obviously trying to get a reaction out of her. Fine, he'll have one then. 

"Stop following me-" as Vin whipped around, her ankle got caught on a root and, for the second time today, sent her flailing to the ground. Emet-Selch reached out to her as she fell (though by instinct or out of kindness was unclear), but Vin managed only to grab onto his own basket of food, pulling its contents down to the forest floor to join her own provisions.

"By Zodiark, you're absolutely useless when you're not pummeling something to death, aren't you?" Emet-Selch kneeled down to gather the strewn about items, not giving a second look to her pitiful shape as he sorted the food into the appropriate baskets. "Such a clumsy thing, you are."

Vin stood and swiped her basket away from him, taking it upon herself to retrieve her own things. "I'm  _ not _ clumsy. I've… I've simply been caught off guard, which isn't surprising, considering how you're following me."

Emet-Selch paused to look at Vin and laughed - this time a full,  _ real _ laugh that, if it wasn’t for circumstances, might have made her join in its chorus. It was deep and dripped like amber colored honey. He grabbed a final stray carrot from the grass and stood to loom over her. "You needn't worry, I'm not following you. I've better things to do than chase after such an ungainly creature like yourself."

Vin huffed and gave him a final glare before turning back to the path, opting to ignore him lest she trip over herself a third time. She ignored him as they boarded the ferry back to the Lavender Beds, and continued ignoring him when the ferryman noticed she sat on the furthest end away from Emet-Selch and made a tasteless "lover's quarrel" joke. She ignored the dark, warm laugh that followed, threatening to stick itself all over her hands and crystallize on her as it dried.

Vin couldn't get off of the ferry fast enough. Her sandals threatened to get caught in the cobblestones of the Lavender Beds, but falling a third time was preferable to being endlessly goaded into reacting to Emet-Selch. Gods, he hadn't gotten under her skin nearly this much in The First, why was it now that-

"Well, I suppose our journey ends here!" Vin turned, Emet-Selch was stopped on the main path behind her, faced toward the side road leading to another part of the community. "It's truly been a lovely walk. Take care,  _ neighbor _ ." He laughed again as he waved his hand at her as he walked away. Vin fumed - it should be illegal to behave so haughtily whilst wearing a tunic.

Grumbles and curses dropped from Vin's mouth the rest of her way home. Her mood had soured so quickly when she realized Emet-Selch wasn't thrilled to see her, but then again what did she expect? To think he would have greeted her with a hug and a smile was ignorant, and to be fair he should have struck her down right where she stood. She was hoping for the grand weight of the world to finally be lifted off her shoulders, that's what it was. How greedy of her. Selfish. Unkind.

Vin dropped her basket on the counter after walking inside her cottage, choosing to ignore it until tomorrow. Her appetite was gone again. She peeled off her clothes until she was down to her smalls and laid in bed, wishing she could drift out the window like the dust motes in her room. Once the sun had set, Vin found sleep quickly beckoning her, though not without the price of quiet sobs rocking her body to sleep.

The next morning had Vin feeling as if she had been hit by a rockslide. Her sternum and back cracked when she stretched - it seems she had spent the entire night curled up into herself. Not bothering to dress, Vin made her way to the basket of food in the kitchen and began to put away its contents, hoping to find something that might inspire her to eat breakfast. She had made a decent dent in her basket when her hand grabbed a familiar engraved wooden box.

"Gods damn it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The same links from last time~
> 
> [Tea Leaves - Steeped playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0WgKIv94O4sV12fkhI24IL), if you're into that sort of thing. (Spotify Playlist)
> 
> If you enjoy reading and/ or writing fanfic, come join us at [Emet Selch's Wholesomely Debauched & Enabling Bookclub discord](https://discord.gg/3nnDmez)!~ Without them, this piece wouldn’t exist! ♥️


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